Hinduism in Indonesia
Hinduism in Indonesia Hinduism in Indonesia is practised by 3% of the total population, with 92.29% in Bali and 15.75% in Central Kalimantan as of the 2000 census. Every Indonesian citizen is required to be a registered member of one of the acknowledged religious communities. The natives of Indonesian Archipelago practiced indigenous animism and dynamism, beliefs common to the austronesian people. Native Indonesia venerated and revered ancestral spirit; they also believe that some spirits may inhabit certain places such as large trees, stones, forests, mountains, or any sacred place. This unseen spiritual entity that has supernatural power is identified by ancient Javanese and Balinese as "hyang" that can mean either divine or ancestral. In modern Indonesian, "hyang" tends to be associated with God. Hindu influences reached the Indonesian Archipelago as early as 1st century. There are several theories as to how Hinduism reached Indonesia. The Vaishya idea is tha...